Prompt's TechBlog
Kerviel: Rogue Trader, Lonely Facebooker
28 January 2008
Posted by Zach Hofer-Shall
The strange twist in all this is the angle that The Guardian Online has taken, by running multiple stories regarding Kerviel's Facebook account. The online publication recounts the activity of the day-trader's social networking profile, noting that all but one of his friends have abandoned him since he was originally accused of swindling billions. One of The Guardian Online pieces specifically states that Kerviel had only 11 friends to begin with, meaning that 10 had left him to avoid being connected to the scandal.
Wait a second- 10 online friends are no longer linked to his Facebook profile... how is this news!? This article even begins with the line "Jerome Kerviel must rue the day he joined Facebook". Maybe it's just me, but shouldn't he be more concerned with the day he decided to cheat the economic system instead of the day he signed up to be able to give virtual pokes?
As pointed out earlier, there are thousands of news sites already running with this story; The Guardian Online (who is not the only one running the Facebook story) simply tried to find a new point of view on it all. The problem I see with all of this is that the media has adapted a strangely skewed view on the function of social networks: reporters are using online profiles to gather personal information to pad out stories, find relevant images, or create new angles to entice the public in an already well documented moment. It seems that recently, anytime someone gains a public eye the first thing the media does is jump online to find private information, embarrassing pictures, or contact information for an exclusive interview. The same way that reporters will stakeout the homes of celebrities, they are now stalking virtual lives as well.
Unfortunately for online communities, I only see this becoming more of a problem in the future; eventually forcing stricter security and less shared information in profiles- taking away the true social-ness of social networks. I guess I'm just nostalgic for the good old days, back before Facebook was used for impersonation, blackmail, and spyware.
Comments:
Journalists have always trawled the dirt for personal information. If someone's caught committing fraud, journalists are door-stepping neighbours in no time, which is how come you always end up with people saying 'such a quiet lad. Kept himself to himeself'...etc. Facebook just makes it a lot easier to find people who know the alleged crim.
The remarkable thing about the Guardian story is that this is news because it's linked to Facebook - people had personal sites and blogs long before Facebook and journalists used the web before Facebook too. So this really is a story about Facebook as a craze or new research tool. It's a story that could only take place in 2007-2008 (and maybe only in this six month period?).
Mark Lawson (UK writer and arts reviewer) was interviewed in the Word this month. He said something along the lines of 'People can't say "no comment" any more, because the comment's already out there on the internet'.
11 friends on Facebook is more likely to be an inactive profile than an intimate circle, judging by what I've seen on the site.
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